Machine for breaking strip material



D. 0. SEWALL, G. P. IVIILLIKEN, AND S. B. HANNAFORD.

MACHINE FOR BREAKING STRIP MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 12,1920.

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MACHINE FOR BREAKING STRIP MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 12,1920.

Patented Nov. 7, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Patented Nov. 7, 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANA O. SEWALL, GEORGE P. MILLIKEN, AND SAMUEL B. HANNAFORD, OF WALPOLE,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO LEWIS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF WALPOLE,MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR BREAKING STRIP MATERIAL.

Application filed July 12, 1920. Serial No. 395,799.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DANA O. SswAnL, Gnonor: P. MILLIKEN, and SAMUEL B.IlAN- NAFURD, citizens of the United States, residing at Walpole, in thecounty of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in a Machine for Breaking Strip Material, of whichthe tit) following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawingsindicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to a machine for breaking strip material intoshort lengths and will be herein disclosed as embodied in a machinedesigned especially for breaking a web of cotton batting into shortpieces. In the manufacture of that class of banda es, sanitary napkinsand the like in which a cotton pad is used, it is preferable to breakthe web of cotton batting instead of cutting it for the purpose ofproducing this pad since the breaking operation produces a pad bettersuited to these uses. It is the chief object of the present invention todevise a machine with which this breaking operation can be performedquickly and economically and which will break the cotton intosubstantially predetermined lengths. The invention also provides meansfor folding the web of cotton prior to the breaking operation so thatpads of the desired thickness may be readily produced.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from thefollowing description when read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawings,

-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordancewith the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the folding devices, the support for thesedevices-being shown in cross section;

Fig. A is a cross sectional view through the folding apparatus showingthe manner in which the web of cotton is folded; and

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view of a folded web of cotton.

unwound from the roll B it is led overaguidc pin 6, Fig. 2, and thencethrough a series of stationary folding fingers 7 mounted on a table 8,these fingers operating. as will readily be understood by those skilledin this art and as illustrated in Fig. 4, to fold the web into a seriesof superposed layers.

The folded web passes directly from the folding devices 7 into thecotton breaking apparatus and this apparatus comprises two pairs ofrolls. The forward pair comprises upper and lower rolls 9 and 10,respectively. while the rear pair comprises upper and lower rolls 1.1and 12. The two lower rolls 10 and 12 rotate on shafts 13 and 14,respectively, which are supported in stationary hearings in the frame15. The upper rolls 9 and 11 rotate on shafts 16 and 17, respectively.The shaft 16 is supported in two blocks l8-18, Fig. 2, mounted invertical guideways formed in the opposite sides of the frame 15, whilethe shaft 17 is supported in similar blocks -1919. These hearing blocksare yieldingly depressed by springs. indicated at 20. and the upwardmovement of each block is limited by an adjustable stop screw 21 that issupported in the frame.

The machine may be driven either by hand or power and the drawings showthe shaft 13 equipped with a handle 22 by means of which it may berotated. It will be understood, however, that this handle can bereplaced by a pulley, sprocket wheel, or other means by which power canbe transmitted thereto from any convenient source. The shafts 13 and 16project beyond the frame at the opposite side of the machine from thecrank 22 and they are geared together. the gear on the shaft13 beingshown in Fig. 2 at 23, and both gears being indicated by dotted lines inFig. 1. The shafts 14 and 17, of the rear pair of rolls, also are gearedtogether, the gear on the lower shaft 14 being shown at 24, Fig. 2. Thelower shafts 13 and 14 are belted together and for this purpose theyhave fixed. thereto grooved pulleys 25 and 26, respectively, thesepulleys being connected by a round belt 27. In other words, the forwardpair of rolls are driven directly while the rear rolls receive .theirpower from the lower roll of the forwill draw it through the foldingfingers 7,

the folding being performed by this advancing movement of the web. If noother mechanism were provided the web would simply be folded and fedthrough the machine.

For the purpose of enabling the rolls to break this web into shortlengths, a disk 28 is secured to the shaft 14 at one side of the frameand a pin 29 is secured in this disk. A lever 30 is fulcrumed on themachine frame at 31 and is long enough to bear at one end on a hub 32that rotates with the shaft 16. The other end of this lever may moveinto or out of the path of movement of the pin 29. A spring 33 acts onthe lever 30 to hold it in engagement with the part 32. It will be seenfrom an inspection of Fig. 1 that when there is no material between theupper and lower rolls, the roll 9 will be in a lower position than shownin this figure and a spring 33 at this time will hold the lefthand endof the lever 30 out of the path of rotation of the pin 29. As soon,however, as a web W of cotton is fed into engagement with the forwardpair of rolls, the upper roll 9 will be raised into substantially theposition shown in Fig. 1 and both pans of rolls will operate to fed theweb W until the pin 29 strikes the end-of the lever 30. This stops therotation of both ofthe rear rolls 11 and 12 due to the fact that theyare geared together. Consequently they stop the feeding movement of thestrip at points behind their engagement with said strip while theforward pair of rolls continues to advance this strip. The result is tobreak the strip at a point between the front and rear pairs of rolls.The forward rolls immediately feed this broken piece out from betweenthem, whereupon the upper roll 9 drops into engagement with itscompanion roll. The spring 33 then moves the lever 30 out of engagementwith the pin 29 thus permitting the rear rolls to advance the web ofcotton into engagement with the forward rolls again. The operationsabove described are then repeated. It will be understood that the belt27 slips on the pulleys while the rotation of the rear pair of rolls isstopped. If desired these rolls may be corrugated or their peripheralsurface may be covered with some material adapted to give them a betterri on the web of cotton.

T e mvention thus provides a very simple machine for breakin a web ofcotton into Short lengths, and, 1f desired, for folding the web prior tothe breakin operation. The machine operates very rapidly androiluceshpads of a substantially predetermlned l hat is claimed as newis:

1. In a machine of the character described, the combination of mechanismfor feeding a strip of material and means for engaging said strip at apoint behind the point of engagement therewith of said feeding mechanismto stop the feeding movement of said strip momentarily and thereby causethe feeding means to break the strip.

2. In a machine of the character described, the combination of mechanismfor feeding a strip of material, means for engaging said strip at apoint behind the point of engagement therewith of said feeding mechanismto stop the feeding movement of said strip momentarily and thereby causethe feeding means to break the strip, said means being controlled bysaid mechanism.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination of means forfeeding a continuous strip of material, and automatic means operativeunder predetermined condit'ions to engage said strip behind said feedingmeans and stop the feeding movement of said strip momentarily, wherebythe feed ing means will break the strip.

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination of two rollsfor engaging a strip of material at points Spaced along the strip, meansfor supporting said strip of material for engagement therewith of saidrolls, means for rotating the forward roll to feed the strip, andautomatic means for stopping the other roll, whereby the feedingactionexerted on the strip by the forwar roll will break the strip.

5. In a machine of the character described, the combination of mechanismfor feeding a strip of material, means for engaging said strip at apoint behind the point of engagement therewith of said feeding mechanism.to stop the feeding movement of said strip and thereby cause thefeeding means to break the strip, said means being controlled by saidmechanism, and said means being operative after the breaking of saidstrip to advance the strip into engagement with said feeding mechanism.

6. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a pair ofrolls for engaging a strip of material and feeding it, and means undercontrol of one of said feeding rolls for engaging said strip behind saidfeeding rolls and stopping the feeding movement of the strip.

7. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a pair ofrolls for engaging a strip of material and feeding it, and meansoperative automatically under predetermined conditions to engage saidstrip of material behind said feeding rolls and stop the feedingmovement of the strip to cause said rolls to break the strip, saidmeans'being operative after the breaking of said strip to advance thestrip into engagement with said rolls.

8. In a machine of the character described, the combination of two pairsof feed rolls for engaging a strip of material at points spaced apartalong the strip and feeding the strip, and automatic means for stoppingthe rear pair of rolls periodically, whereby the feeding movement of theforward rolls will break the strip.

9. In a machine of the character described, the combination of two pairsof feed rolls for engaging a strip of material at points spaced apartalong the strip and feeding the strip, and means dependent on thepresence of the strip of material between the forward rolls for stoppingthe feeding movement of the rear rollsand thereby causing the strip tobe broken.

10. In a machine of the character described, the combination of twopairs of feed rolls for engaging a strip of material at points spacedapart along said Strip, means for driving both pairs of said rolls tofeed the strip, and means controlled by the forward )air of rolls forstopping the rear pair of rolls periodically.

11. In a machine of the character described, the combination of twopairs of feed rolls for engaging a strip of material at points spacedapart along said strip, means for driving both pairs of said rolls tofeed the strip, and means operated by the relative movement of theforward rolls caused by the entrance of said strip between the latterrolls to stop the rear rolls.

12. In a machine of the character de- I scribed, the combination of twopairs of feed rolls for engaging a strip of material at points spacedapart along said strip, means for driving the forward pair of rolls, abelt connection between the two pairs of rolls for driving the rearrolls, and connections between the two pairs of rolls for causing apredetermined relative movement of the foravard rolls to stop therotation of the rear scribed, the combination of means for folding astrip of sheet material, and means for breaking said folded strip intoshort lengths, said breaking means being operative to feed said stripthrough said folding means.

15. In a machine of the character described, the combination ofstationary folding devices for acting on a strip of sheet material tofold it into a plurality of superposed layers, and means for breakingsaid folded strip into substantially predetermined lengths. saidbreaking means being operative to feed said strip through said foldingdevices.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

DANA O. SEVVALL. GEORGE P. MILLIKEN. SAMUEL B. HANNAFORD.

